48-hour truce agreed in Syria's Daraya from Wednesday: Moscow

1st June 2016, 0 comments

A truce has been introduced in the Syrian town of Daraya from Wednesday for 48 hours to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population, said the head of the Russian coordination centre in Syria.

"On the initiative of Russia and in agreement with the leadership of Syria and the American side a 'regime of silence' has been introduced for 48 hours on June 1 2016 from 00:01 am in the settlement of Daraya to ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian aid to the population," Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko said.

Russia had last week called for a 72-hour "regime of silence" in Eastern Ghouta and Daraya amid deadlocked efforts to turn a cessation of hostilities into a lasting peace in the war-torn country.

The United States and Russia are co-partners in the so-called Vienna diplomatic process of the International Support Group for Syria, which met last month in the Austrian capital but made no notable progress.

The 20 world and regional powers taking part in the process have so far failed to turn a fragile cessation of hostilities in Syria, in effect since February 27, into a durable truce between the government and opposition groups.

At least 280,000 people have been killed and more than half of Syria's population have fled their homes since the conflict first erupted in 2011.